Station 20 West
Much has been written about the Government of Saskatchewan canceling Station 20 West. Much of that has come from the competing rationale of the Government ministers themselves. The final word seems to come from a bunch of rural MLA's, including Premier Brad Wall which had this to say, "basically a mall development, where we'd be competing with grocery stores, competing with others who are already renting now to community clinics in the area."
The problem is that there isn't any grocery stores in the area. The closest grocery store is the limited selection of food at Giant Tiger (really inexpensive but limited selection), 33rd Street Safeway, or the Safeway/Superstore in Confederation Mall. As for competing with other mall owners, they obviously don't see the benefit of a centralized service complex which would hold the following services.
- Community Clinic-Westside: cooperative primary health care services
- Saskatoon Health Region: primary health services may include public health, mental health and addiction services
- U of S College of Dentistry: outreach education clinic
- U of S College of Medicine: outreach clinical services
- SWITCH: Student Wellness Initiative Toward Community Health
There would be some other organizations housed here.
- CHEP Good Food Inc: essential food security programming—community kitchens, children’s nutrition, Good Food Box, local food
- Good Food Junction Co-op: neighbourhood-owned grocery store with good food at reasonable costs
- Quint Development Corporation: affordable housing initiatives, small business development and loans, employment and educational support
This seems to be an decision based on ideology rather than anything. The idea that the government should not be providing services it feels that private enterprise can and should. Of course this ideology doesn't work in reverse as seen my Royal University Foundation looking for private money to bring Saskatoon's main emergency room, ICU, and other facilities up to date.
Is it a good project? On the government's side, the Westside Clinic is already operational and I assume isn't going anywhere and they house SWITCH. While I agree with the idea of an affordable food co-op but from it's inception, I have questioned if they are going to be affordable (which may be secondary to availability). Some friends have been involved and the questions on affordable pricing remain unanswered. It isn't a flaw with the business plan but a volume and distribution question. Also some would argue proximity to St. Paul's Hospital. So there are some questions of whether or not the government should be funding a project like this.
On the Station 20 West side is availability. In my job one of my biggest challenges right now is providing health care and in particular, mental health care to the men who call the shelter home. In terms of health care, emergency room health care is not a good solution for the system (cost) or to the patient (lack of regular checkups). While it can be hard to get accessible health services for all of us, it is a lot harder to find a doctor if one doesn't have car. All of us in the house drive across town to see our doctor which would be a couple hour trip if we had to use a bus or incur a $40 bill if we used a taxi. That is a HUGE obstacle to those that I serve at work.
Speaking of availability, that is the main advantage of the co-operative grocery store. As I just said, I am not really convinced that it is sustainable. At night the Shopper's Drug Mart on 22nd street often has one clerk and two uniformed security guards to stop robbery and to stop shop lifting. One can't tell me that it is making any money at all under those conditions. There is also another reason why Safeway, Loblaw, and Super Valu has all pulled out of the city centre.
Despite that, affordable food is hard to come by. Wendy and I shop at Safeway (primarily at 33rd Street where we live and Wendy picks up stuff at the Centre at Circle and 8th where she works), Co-op, and Costco. We save a lot of money by being able to pick and choose. For the poorest in Saskatoon, there are not grocery stores in close proximity and if you would like to join me at the 7-11 on 22nd Street on days when government checks are sent out, it looks like a riot hit it by midnight (There is evidence that Scott Reid was somewhat correct when he made his quip about beer and popcorn). People are spending an incredible amount of their checks on food from a 7-11. Is it a great decision? Of course not. There are people with a very, very, limited food budget spending it in a horrible location (price wise and healthwise - don't get me wrong, I love a good 7-11 burger but it isn't a lifestyle I would recommend). The alternative is having to get a cab to go to a grocery store which is another huge budgetary issue. The people that most often who need to take a cab to a grocery store are often those that can't afford to. It is the reason why I was asked to drive people home from the warehouse when the Salvation Army handed out Christmas hampers. If we hadn't, the burden to get a FREE hamper may have too much for people to receive one.
If you drive through Riversdale, Caswell Hill, and Mayfair, you see a bunch of homes that used to be corner stores and small grocery stores. Jane Jacobs wrote extensively on what happened to them but we abandoned them for the big box stores. While it made life better for some, it hurts those that can't make it to the mega malls. It is one of the reasons why I take Mark as much as possible to the Roxy Theatre and not the Galaxy. I don't want to lose something that means so much to the community.
Of course this isn't a fight about movie theatres, it is about providing a place for healthy food, medical services, affordable dental care (even if it is done by students... shudder...), and more mental health providers in a place that desperately needs them. It is only $8 million dollars out of $9.1 billion dollar budget (wow, do we know how to spend money in Saskatchewan, where is Janice MacKinnon when we need her). It is also about investing in a part of the city that has seen so little investment over the last 40 years. Yes Meewasin and the Farmer's Market is nice but Riversdale has been ignored for much of the last several decades despite being represented by a New Democratic Premier since 1991. Investing in that part of the city also sends the huge message that we believe that we are not willing to leave behind some of the provinces poorest.
I'll leave the last word to the editorial writers of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
Gantefoer believed the grant was cut because there was little chance the proponents of the project could raise the "$12 million to $14 million" needed to come from private interests. By next day he was admitting he was in error, and the necessary private funds were a minuscule portion of that amount.
Even more incredibly, McMorris suggested the money had to be pulled from a project that would make it easier for inner-city residents to access timely health care because the funds were needed to buy a fire alarm for St. Paul's Hospital and to ward off a mould attack. The decision, he assured us, had nothing to do with politics.
At least Wall's weak excuse was credible, if only because it illustrated an ideological basis to the ill-considered decision. The premier suggested the grant was killed because his government saw the inclusion of a co-operatively run grocery store within Station 20 as a threat to private industry.
But to cancel the entire project rather than deal directly with the situation is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
When the NDP absurdly castigated Wall for giving his 14-year-old daughter driving lessons on a publicly owned rural gravel road, it demonstrated just how far out of touch with rural Saskatchewan that party has become.
But Wall's clear lack of understanding about the dire needs of core neighbourhoods and the history of Saskatoon demonstrates just how out of touch he remains with urban Saskatchewan. Considering the role the province's largest city is playing in the economic revival of Saskatchewan, such ignorance could have dire consequences.
The proponents of Station 20 want a grocery store not because they want to compete with private industry but because many people in core neighbourhoods don't have the wherewithal to keep hiring cabs to go shopping. The last of the downtown grocery stores left more than a decade ago.
To ignore such realities for the sake of political partisanship and ideological reasons is an inauspicious beginning for a government that Saskatchewan people hoped could lead them to a prosperous future.
If you have strong feelings about this, contact your MLA and let them know.
Labels: economics, politics, poverty, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
7:59 PM ::
14 Comments:
Great post Jordon!
I notice the #2 bus runs right past the site. It seems to be pretty frequent - how close does it get to a Safeway or Loblaws?
Lots of people have those folding "granny carts" - they can carry a good amount, are they popular in Saskatoon? Or does winter make them unusable?
Can poor people get a bus pass? For cheap, or free?
Most sidewalks are blocked with winter, despite snow removal by-laws. That isn't to say that people don't use carts, Safeway goes through almost all of theirs in a summer from theft. In the winter, it is much harder to get around. Plus in -40 degrees weather, fresh fruit spoils before I can get home from my grocery store if I don't drive.
People can get bus passes but our bus system would take an hour from some parts of the inner city to a grocery store.
People who are below the LICO, can get a subsidized pass but often don't because of the effort that it takes to get one. I know it is odd but if you go to the pawn shops on 20th Street, they are more expensive then Sears which is four blocks away (but out of Riversdale) but so many people spend more in the hood which I can't figure out unless the road that kind of divides the east and west of Saskatoon is too much of a psycological barrier. Of course in terms of groceries, that is irrelevant as the grocery stores tend to serve the burbs and there are none downtown.
Mike, to answer your question, I have a friend who lives downtown and him and his roomate are lower middle class and don't have access to a vehicle. With careful budgeting, they live a pretty good life and get good food via a cab every two weeks. That is why I don't see Station 20 West as THE solution but as a long line of things that need to be done in the lower west side.
excellent post Jordon.
Hi! I order from this place all the time and am very pleased to share. They have great kosher organic and natural food products.
Here is a link http://www.wholeandnatural.com
Enjoy!!!
p.s. I used a code try if it works for you bldc08
That's a bummer! No nearby groceries. I live a mile from the second largest Safeway, but I often buy groceries in the 'hood. Sometimes my work assignment is in Hayward, a blue-collar town that has these "Mega-Food" stores. These are the giant food stores that are cheap, and are well-tailored to the ethnic flavor of the neighborhoods.
It's a big boon to the neighborhood, lots of the customers are using welfare-type payments (vouchers, cards, food stamps). It takes volume to make these work, and the store is on a major bus line.
I don't know what you call it in Canada, but often, there is a Jitney/Livery/Shuttle that takes people from a common point to a grocery store or shopping area, and an hour later, picks them up and drops them off in front of their home. It costs more than a bus, but less than a taxi (and there are vouchers you can buy or get free). The actual van is the same one used for commuter shuttles during rush hour and it's an "excuse" to make an 8 hour shift for the drivers.
Mike,
I have thought of the shuttle bus since I worked at Safeway. There is a free shuttle bus that runs through Riversdale back to the Broadway district (which is a trendy little shopping/bars/arts district) which has a small grocery store. It was designed to do just that and it is free.
While the city keeps it going (it is subsidized by advertising), it isn't used that much from what I remember which is a shame because it is a great resource to get people to a shopping district and out of the confectioneries and pawn shops.
I don't really understand the geographic barriers in a community like this. It goes both ways. I see people shopping in a pawn shop for goods more expensive than they would pay new at Midtown Mall but they won't walk the four block to shop there. On the same level, I have a relative who said she is afraid of the west side where Wendy and I live despite statistically crime isn't that bad and violent crime is minimal.
Hi all :) I happen to come across your site, and just wanted to throw my two bits in.
I believe that for many of those who live in the core neighbourhood, accessibility to food is not a simple matter of financial affordability and physical distance.
They must feel uncomfortable, if not intimidated, to take the free-shuttle to a trendy grocery store in Broadway where they might feel out of place.
Also, many of them come from such family that they did not learn the basics of proper nutrition, and education is desperately needed in this area especially for young mothers.
The Co-op grocery store in question (Good-Food Junction) is not just another grocery store, but it is also going to be a place of education where nutrition students from U of S would regularly set up a booth to inform the customers on healthy eating.
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.
Giving them a local grocery store where they can feel as ‘their own’ may be a great first step in re-installing pride in those marginalized citizens.
An hour to take the bus to a grocery store?
As one who lives in the inner city and has taken the bus to work, which is much further away than the Safeway on 33rd or the Extra Foods on 22nd and W, I can tell you it might take 10 minutes on the bus to get to a grocery store. Tack on 10 minutes for walking and you've got 20 minutes tops.
There should be a decent grocery store in the inner city, but making ridiculous claims doesn't help your case.
Depending on where you are in the inner city, you have to walk, grab the bus, transfer downtown, wait, take the bus to Confederation, Lawson Heights, or 33rd and then come home. It is incredibly hard to carry more than a couple bags on the bus of groceries so it needs to happen every couple of days
There are 3 main bus routes through the inner city. They all stop within one block of the Extra Foods on W and 22nd. No transfers required.
The south end of King George would be the only exception and they have a smaller grocery store.
The one thing that you are forgetting is that how hard it is for families with the bussing solution. Like I said, I am not a big supporter of the grocery store idea because I don't think it will be viable BUT if you don't have a car and a grocery store is out of walking distance, you are limited on how much one can purchase and transport on city buses. Working at Safeway, I saw people carry a tremendous amount home in backpacks and bags but it was short walk and they were single. While taking a bus is an option, it is a hard one if you have children.
No one seems to be mentioning the Extra Foods on Broadway? Isn't it a closer walk to there than to the Giant Tiger? (From Station 20 location, that is).
I have had experience living on social assistance, never having had a car until the age of 22, and living far (20 minute bus ride plus 10 minute walk) from a grocery store and dentist and doctor and schools and libraries. Yes, some fresh fruit spoiled, and some frozen food had to be eated sooner than anticipated because it thawed on the way home. Sure, some sidewalks sucked in the winter. My hands hurt carrying the heavy bags because we didn't have backpacks back then (really only used for camping, remember the days?).
I don't want to say "I had it bad and so they just need to suck it up", but I am saying that the pulling of funding for such a project is not as huge a deal as it appears. Life happens. I grew up without a vehicle, and although it is more expensive to have a vehicle than not, I can afford it now, and life is much easier for me. I could still walk and take public transport to a grocery store if I had to, though. No one is putting a gun to anyone's head to make them grocery shop at 7-11
1. The city in its infinite wisdom is cutting the free shuttle bus service, saving the city less than 100k per annum. They never advertised the thing then wondered why they never had riders.
2. 20th street doesn not even have benches and just one bus shelter. The attitude of the city seems to be that it is ok for the poor to freeze in the cold.
3. Station 20 West is a monument to the egos of those in Quint and little more. The dental college would have been nice but the location was stupid, and the centralization of services would mean we actually have to go a lot further for existing services than we do at present.
4. That big demo in support of station 20 was hilarious. Many new cars from people who probably never would otherwise set foot in the core and very few core residents out to support it. I know no one on my block that attended.
5. The 8-15 million that the complex is going to cost would purchase great living accomodations or homes for many of the poor living in slum conditions in this part of the city, which would imo be a better use of the money. Homes for the poor or nice offices on the west side for east side social workers and do gooders giving the poor on the west a hand up. (sarcasm)
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